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In article <>,
Heinrich Pumpernickel <> wrote:
>i got this question in a c/c++ job interview............
>
>"why are manhole covers round? give at least 10 reasons"
>
>do u no the a to this q???

I doubt CLC is the place to get an answer to questions like that.
Most likely they were looking for an answer that would indicate some
combination of creative thought and ability to identify problems and
possible solutions.
This is as important a skill for programming-in-general (not specific
to C) as things like attention to detail or obsession with correctness
(things like using proper punctuation and capitalization, getting the name
of the language you're talking about right, and using standard English
when you're addressing English-speakers are usually good indicators
of those).

dave
(not sure what to pin a grasp of subtlety on, though)

--
Dave Vandervies

I think I'll go talk to the cat for a while.
--Mike Wahler in comp.lang.c

To find out whether you're capable of answering an easy question without
going crawling to Usenet for help, and to determine whether you
understand the concept of binary representation.
> do u no the a to this q???

A manhole cover is round because a circle has the greatest length
between its corners compared to other shapes, this means there is more
space you can utilise because tehre is more space between the corners.

Richard Heathfield wrote:
> Heinrich Pumpernickel said:
>
>> i got this question in a c/c++ job interview............
>>
>> "why are manhole covers round? give at least 10 reasons"
>
> To find out whether you're capable of answering an easy question without
> going crawling to Usenet for help,
Or maybe he was applying for a job with the water & sewer department?
> and to determine whether you
> understand the concept of binary representation.
That's kind of a dirty trick, don't you think? One could have a pretty
clear understanding of binary representation yet still not interpret 10
as binary when completely out of context, right? In most cases, written
numbers are understood to have a "default" base.

Or maybe it's just that I didn't get it at first
>
>> do u no the a to this q???
>
> Ah, now you've lost me.
>

[comp.lang.c] Shadowman <> wrote:
>> Heinrich Pumpernickel said:
>>> "why are manhole covers round? give at least 10 reasons"
> That's kind of a dirty trick, don't you think? One could have a pretty
> clear understanding of binary representation yet still not interpret 10
> as binary when completely out of context, right? In most cases, written
> numbers are understood to have a "default" base.

If the base of the number is something other than the obvious, what's
to suggest that the interviewer was not looking for 0x10 reasons
manhole covers are round?

(I think it's a lousy interview question unless it's asked in a
face-to-face, and even then it's not so great.)

--
C. Benson Manica | I appreciate all corrections, polite or otherwise.
cbmanica(at)gmail.com |
----------------------| I do not currently read any posts posted through
sdf.lonestar.org | Google groups, due to rampant unchecked spam.

"Very.Little.Gravitas.Indeed" wrote:
>
> A manhole cover is round because a circle has the greatest length
> between its corners compared to other shapes, this means there is
> more space you can utilise because tehre is more space between the
> corners.

This is only half right. The roundness prevents dropping it
through the manhole, and thus reduces the replacement costs.

On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:01:01 -0000, "Very.Little.Gravitas.Indeed"
<> wrote:
>The two answers to this question are.
>
>A manhole cover is round because a circle has the greatest length
>between its corners compared to other shapes, this means there is more
>space you can utilise because tehre is more space between the corners.
>
You may be trying to say that it requires the least material for a
given minimum dimension.
>A manhole cover is round because a man hole is round.

Also, it can't fall through the hole (also true for the equilateral
triangle someone suggested.)

If the rim is sufficiently narrow and the cover sufficiently thin, you
can drop a triangular manhole cover into a triangular manhole. Set
the cover on edge, then lift it so that one edge is vertical. The
width of the cover is the distance from a vertex to the center of the
opposite side; this can fit through the hold along one edge.

In article <>,
CBFalconer <> wrote:
>> A manhole cover is round because a circle has the greatest length
>> between its corners compared to other shapes, this means there is
>> more space you can utilise because tehre is more space between the
>> corners.
>This is only half right. The roundness prevents dropping it
>through the manhole, and thus reduces the replacement costs.

However, many manhole covers *aren't* round. All the ones near here
seem to be rectangular.

-- Richard
--
"Consideration shall be given to the need for as many as 32 characters
in some alphabets" - X3.4, 1963.

On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 16:48:45 GMT, Al Balmer <> wrote:
>On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:01:01 -0000, "Very.Little.Gravitas.Indeed"
><> wrote:
>
>>The two answers to this question are.
>>
>>A manhole cover is round because a circle has the greatest length
>>between its corners compared to other shapes, this means there is more
>>space you can utilise because tehre is more space between the corners.
>>
>You may be trying to say that it requires the least material for a
>given minimum dimension.
>
>>A manhole cover is round because a man hole is round.
>
>Also, it can't fall through the hole (also true for the equilateral
>triangle someone suggested.)
>

"the height of a equilateral triangle is 0.8660254 times its edge
length, so there's plenty of space left to accomodate for the
supporting rim and the cover's thickness, and still some space
left to allow it drop down.

what people really mean in this context is *reuleaux triangles*,
or really any reuleaux polygons with an uneven number of corners..."

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